Tech From Here: NL · Sources
Would you eat off an old toilet?
The work this post covers and every source it draws on, each linked to the original.
The workPorcelain in Presence: From Discarded Sanitaryware to Architectural Surface (Thaleia-Pelagini Kalfa), on the Dutch Design Week 2026 programme ddw.nlOther sources
- Restruct TU Delft thesis restructgroup-tudelft.nl
Images, slide by slide
- Slide 1
- A grid of pale recycled-porcelain test tiles and cups, a hand placing oneImage: T.-P. KalfaMuseum or journal record
- Slide 2
- Diagram in four steps: old toilets and sinks, crushed, mixed into new slip at 20 or 50 percent, then cast again as tiles, reliefs and wall modulesImage: RN Collins studio, code-drawn. Checked against Press kit 1870: sanitaryware carries the embodied energy of a high-temperature firing yet leaves the building as crushed aggregate; returned as a slip-cast surface (source lines drawn on the graphic)
- Slide 3
- Diagram of two recipes: 20 percent recycled sanitaryware for low energy and limited processing, 50 percent for the most waste reused with repeatable castingImage: RN Collins studio, code-drawn. Checked against Press kit 1870: 20% energy-efficient with limited processing; 50% maximised waste reuse with repeatable casting; slip casting into double-curved reliefs and interlocking modules (source lines drawn on the graphic)
- Slide 4
- Bar chart of study answers: 92 percent would take the recycled cup home, 58 percent would tell a guest its origin, 33 percent would have it as a kitchen countertopImage: RN Collins studio, code-drawn. Checked against DDW page and press kit 1870: 92% cup home, 33% kitchen countertop, 58% tell a guest (source lines drawn on the graphic)
- Slide 5
- White relief tiles and small cups cast from recycled sanitarywareImage: T.-P. KalfaMuseum or journal record
- Ring frame
- Chamber pot, Kakiemon-style decoration, Rijksmuseum (BK-NM-1010-114-B)Frame: Rijksmuseum, PD, croppedMuseum or journal record